An Afterword by The Doctor
by Walwin
Summary: An old and fragile Amelia Williams visits the grave of her Last Centurion for the last time.


An old and fragile Amelia Williams slowly makes her way through the large, rusty, metal gates of the cemetery. The faint New York wind moves the gates back and forth while a black crow silently sits atop of the equally rusty fence next to the opening, watching a distraught Amelia, dressed in black funeral clothes, using her walking stick to help move her towards her husband's grave. Rain is falling heavily down onto the cemetery, making the green grass smell damp and familiar. Amelia knows Rory wouldn't want her to be outside so far by herself in her condition, but she has to visit her love just one last time before she must meet him again.

When she eventually reaches the grave she was looking for, she holds back tears and takes a deep breath as she painfully kneels down to rest a bouquet of sunflowers in front of the old gravestone that reads:

_'__IN LOVE MEMORY_

_RORY ARTHUR WILLIAMS_

_AGE 82'_

It has been a long 5 years since Rory passed, yet the pain still feels fresh for Amelia. In her lifetime she has had the two most important men in her life ripped away from her in a blink of an eye and all she wants to do is join them. But she knows she must wait. She knows she must live out the rest of her life naturally, like Rory would have wanted her to do.

"Oh Rory..." she whispers, patting her hand on the top of the gravestone. "My last centurion, I'll be with you soon, my love." A single tear escapes her eyes and rolls down her wrinkled, pale cheek. Her old healthy ginger hair has now turned grey and frail. Rory used to tell her she was still the same young girl that he fell in love with when he was a child, and she believed him, she really did. Because that's the level of trust and love Amelia had for her centurion, she worshipped every word that came from his mouth, she just never told him this. Amelia wraps her arms around her waist and lets out a faint sob, hoping no one can see her. "My stupid idiot, I miss you every day. You waited 2000 years outside of a box for me, you would have done anything for me, but when it came too it, I couldn't repay you...I couldn't save you like you saved me, Rory and I'm so sorry!" She has now broken down in tears, not caring who sees. She is past caring, because the two people who could ever truly cheer her up were gone. She tries to get back up to her feet but her body has betrayed her. She let's herself stay in this state for a good 5 minutes before footsteps growing louder behind her catch her attention for a moment.

"Oh my stars are you okay?" a panting yet gentle voice asks from behind a broken Amelia. "Here let me help you up, you'll catch your death sat in the rain like that!" Before Amelia has a chance to react she is being helped to her feet, her body not protesting like it did when she was by herself. She lets herself put her arm around this kind stranger and take her to sit on a wet bench next to Rory's grave. When the two are sat next to each other, Amelia turns her head to see a young woman, maybe in her early twenties. Her hair is a light brunette and wavy, and her smile carries two cute dimples each side of her face. She is wearing a white and navy-blue polka dot shirt with a red bag by her side. Amelia notices she isn't dressed for rain, but thinks nothing else of it. When the woman offers Amelia a tissue, she does not hesitate and wipes her watery eyes.

"Please don't tell anyone about this," Amelia begs while wiping her eyes, even allowing a faint smile across her face, "A Scottish woman sobbing like a child on the ground, I'll be a joke to Scotland!"

The woman giggles and lets her back rest against the damp bench, "its okay I understand, at my Mum's funeral I cried like a baby, my Dad practically had to drag me by the legs away from her gravestone."

"Oh I'm sorry I didn't kn-"

"It's fine; it was a long time ago. She was a great woman." The woman smiles at the sight of the rain starting to stop. "So...was he someone special?" She asks, nodding her head forward to show that she was talking about the grave where Rory laid.

"He was my husband..." She smiles as she recalls her late love, "He was called Rory"

"Lovely name, Rory, I once dated someone called Ro-" she stops herself when she realizes her experiences were not appropriate at this time, "Actually it doesn't matter, just ignore me I ramble sometimes!"

"You seem familiar" Amelia says, noticing the familiarity in the young woman's voice, "Have we...met?"

The woman shakes her head, "Nah I'm not from around this area...not even this state. I was just sort of, drifting." She says as she points to her clothes, "I dressed for Cyprus."Amelia laughs loudly with a hint of confusion and a few tears still falling from her eyes. She stops herself when she makes a revelation. The woman notices her sudden change of mood and puts her arm over the fragile old lady. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing it's just..." she turns her head to look away from the woman, feeling embarrassed at this confession, "I think that's the first time I've laughed in five years."

They sit in an understanding silence for five minutes, appreciating the warm breeze that has come along with the slightly less cloudy sky. The smell of wet grass still surrounds the air. Amelia spends some time just looking at Rory's grave. She thinks about the Doctor, about how much she knows he'd want to be there for her, she thinks about how sad he'd be about the loss of his best friend. Then she thinks about what life would have been like had the Doctor not crashed into her garden when she was a child. She would have never truly appreciated her love for Rory; she would have never met her daughter or even given birth to her. That man, that impossible man, changed her life in a way that she never realized.

"I should really go soon," the woman declares much to Amelia's astonishment, she hadn't realized how long they had been sat in silence like that, she wishes she could ask the woman more, but knows it's none of her business who this woman was, what set her on her way and why she was in this cemetery in the first place. "I need to catch the train Denver."

"_Denver?!"_Amelia asks in astonishment, not quite understanding why this woman came all the way from Denver just to visit an old, dusty cemetery in the middle of Manhattan.

"Yeah my friend is there. He would have come to New York himself but its all _'timey-wimey'_ he said."

"Timey-wimey-"

"Anyway I should go, it was nice meeting you." The woman declares standing up and heading back to the gates of the cemetery before stopping in her tracks and turning back to a confused Amelia, "Sorry I forgot to give you this!" she searches her pockets and takes out a scrunched up A4 piece of paper which she places next to Amelia. "He wanted you to have that, anyway I should really go, you know how he hates waiting...goodbye" The woman shouts, as if in a hurry as she quickly runs past the gates and into the streets of New York. Amelia isn't certain, but she thought that the woman was crying herself.

"Wait!" Amelia shouts with all her energy, "Who are you?" but it was all in vain, the woman was out of sight. She settles back into the bench, feeling exhausted, when she notices the little piece of paper next to her, moving slightly due to the now calm wind. She reaches her old, wrinkled hand and grabs the paper, slowly unfolding it not sure what to expect. When she sees the first few words, she almost cries out in a mixture of sadness and happiness:

"_An afterword by... The Doctor"_

Amelia holds back tears as she places her free hand against her mouth. She decides to read the letter out loud, so that Rory could hear. She knows it isn't likely but she can't help it. She knows magic is real, she's seen is herself, if space whales can drive the UK through the galaxy, then maybe, just maybe...her husband could hear the words of his best friend. She continues:

"_Hello pond, it's me. Your imaginary friend. Your raggedy Doctor. If Clara has done her job right then you should have received this letter in the old cemetery where I last saw you. That was Clara who you will have just seen by the way! She's brilliant. Really, truly brilliant. And I know you will have liked her. I realize that by now Rory is gone... good old Rory, eh? The last centurion, sleeping in the city of New York, the land where dreams are made of. That's not too shabby at all. And as for you, Pond. Sitting here reading this as you're old and grey, just remember something very important, something that could save your life..._

_...this mad man with a box loves you, and Rory, with all my hearts. You were the first face this face saw and always will be. You truly brought out the best of me and for that I could never thank you enough. But even if you get ill, Pond, if you grow old and fragile.,. Just remember how important you were, are, and always will be._

_Together, me you and Rory were the best team the universe have seen. Together we saved dinosaurs, towns, children and countless others. When you and Rory go to sleep remember that you'll never be alone, even if it feels like you are, because somewhere in this universe, people are singing songs about the Ponds, about how you saved their lives and about how if you had not turned up, they will have never met their children, or their children's children. Just remember how remarkable you are, Amy. I'm so sorry that I could not be there to tell you this in person, but you know how timey-wimey my Tardis is with New York._

_Live long, love Rory and sleep well. All my love, the Doctor."_


End file.
